Chemosensory-Related Gene Family Members of the Horn Fly, Haematobia irritans irritans (Diptera: Muscidae), Identified by Transcriptome Analysis

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 11; no. 11; p. 816
• Main Authors: Olafson, Pia Untalan, Saski, Christopher A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.11.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Abdomen; Adults; Antennae; Appendages; Binding; Cattle; Chemical control; Chemoreception; chemosensory binding protein; Control methods; Economic analysis; Females; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic engineering; gustatory receptor; Haematobia irritans; horn fly; Hydrocarbons; Insecticide resistance; Insecticides; Ion channels (ligand-gated); ionotropic receptor; Laboratories; Libraries; Males; Maxillary palps; Natural products; odorant receptor; Odorant receptors; Odorant-binding protein; Ontology; Pest control; Pesticide resistance; Pests; Populations; Proteins; Receptors; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Software packages; Taste receptors; United States > US; gustatory receptor; horn fly; ionotropic receptor; odorant binding protein; odorant receptor; chemosensory binding protein
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects11110816

Horn flies are one of the most significant economic pests of cattle in the United States and worldwide. Chemical control methods have been routinely utilized to reduce populations of this pest, but the steady development of insecticide resistance has prompted evaluation of alternative control strategies. Behavior modifying compounds from natural products have shown some success in impacting horn fly populations, and a more thorough understanding of the horn fly chemosensory system would enable improvements in the development of species-specific compounds. Using an RNA-seq approach, we assembled a transcriptome representing genes expressed in adult female and male horn fly head appendages (antennae, maxillary palps, and proboscides) and adult fly bodies from which heads were removed. Differential gene expression analysis identified chemosensory gene family members that were enriched in head appendage tissues compared with headless bodies. Candidate members included 43 odorant binding proteins (OBP) and 5 chemosensory binding proteins (CSP), as well as 44 odorant receptors (OR), 27 gustatory receptors (GR), and 34 ionotropic receptors (IR). Sex-biased expression of these genes was not observed. These findings provide a resource to enable future studies targeting horn fly chemosensation as part of an integrated strategy to control this blood-feeding pest.